A thrust return pedal is used in the field of driving assistance for a motor vehicle and therefore serves as an interface between the vehicle and its driver.
This type of pedal is for example used in the field of speed regulation. There are regulators which automatically manage the speed of the vehicle. It therefore suffices to select a cruising speed and an electronic management system ensures that the vehicle is kept at this speed. Speed regulation can also be carried out by creating a hard point during the depression of the accelerator pedal. When the set speed is then reached, the driver feels a hard point in this pedal and he thus knows that the set speed has been reached.
The thrust return pedal acts in this case like a luminous or audible alarm which warns the driver. The driver is then free to take note or not to take note of this alarm. This type of information means has the advantage of being perceived only by the driver and not by the other passengers.
The document FR 2 685 667 discloses a thrust return pedal. A thrust return mechanism comprising a motor reduction unit controls the movement of a lever that cooperates with a spring. Depending on the position of the lever, the spring applies a greater or lesser traction force tending to return the control pedal to its position of rest.
The document FR 2 460 224 also discloses a speed regulator device for a motor vehicle comprising a control pedal in which a hard point is felt by the user at two thirds of the travel of the pedal. The thrust return mechanism used here utilizes an epicyclic train.
The mechanisms used have the disadvantage of being of relatively large size, of high cost price and of limited rapidity.
At present, in certain motor vehicles, the accelerator pedal is part of a module that is simply screwed onto the floor of the vehicle and connected electrically. This makes it possible to have a simple and rapid assembly of the accelerator pedal. The large size of the thrust return mechanisms of the prior art prohibits any integration of such a mechanism in an accelerator pedal module.